The century old Sri Lankan cooperative sector received the biggest boost in its history when HE the President invited it to sit in the future sessions of the National Economic Council (NEC) on 7 July. Many new relief measures for cooperatives were also announcedโchief among them was exempting cooperatives from income tax payments – so that the sector would be revived to play a key role in Sri Lankaโs economic reforms.
โI too began my working life as an employee of a cooperative. Cooperatives are a peoplesโ movement-itโs a common platform to put forward their issues-to collaboratively voice them. National Cooperative Commission (NCC) under Minister Rishad Bathiudeen should take the lead in thisโ said HE President Maithripala Sirisena on 7 July in Batticaloa. HE President was addressing Sri Lankaโs celebration festivities of the 96th International Cooperative Day in Batticaloa, organised by the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen under whose purview the cooperatives fall. Joining HE President and Minister Bathiudeen were Deputy Minister ย of Industry and Commerce Buddhika Pathirana, Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary K.D.N. Ranjit Ashoka, Commissioner of Co-operative Development and Registrar of Co-operative Societies S.L. Naseer, Governor of Eastern Province Rohita Bogollagama and the visiting International Dignitary for the occasion A. K. Singh (Director Cooperative Development -Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited -IFFCO). โI praise Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and his Ministry for many new initiatives launched by them for this sector in the last few years.ย I call NCC and Minister Bathiudeen to launch even more activities in future to develop this sector. I call the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and NCC to sit with me in NEC in future to develop this sector further. I wish to resolve any other pending issues of cooperatives at NEC and will launch many other reforms for this sector in the next two-three months. Todayโs event lays a stronger foundation for the future of our coops and I praise Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and his Ministry for many new initiatives they have launched so far.โ
Minister Bathiudeen thanked HE President Sirisena for the support extended to this sector and announced several new reforms to revitalise it on 7 July. โI am pleased to announce that with immediate effect all cooperative societies of Sri Lanka are exempted from income tax. This will result in good savings for themโ said Minister Bathiudeen and added: โAll cooperative employees across the country will be given an additional monthly allowance of Rs 1000 from next month. All the cooperative employees will be entitled to a pension from now on. Cooperatives struggling with bank loans will be given a reimbursement and our Cabinet Paper to this effect has been approved. As a result we have already paid Rs 100 million of bank loans owed by coops, through treasury funds. Another Rs 390ย million cooperative loans will be reimbursed by us in the future with the support of Treasury. Provision of heavy vehicles to cooperatives at low rates will also be done now since HE the President has given his approval. All these new decisions have been arrived at to make this important movement a key driver in the economic growth and reform vision of the Unity government.โ
โThe theme for 2018 International Day of Cooperatives (IDC) is โSustainable consumption and productionโ; creating an opportunity for cooperatives to show how they run successful businesses while respecting our natural environment and the resources it offersโ said IFFCOโs Director Singh, and added: โThe global cooperative sector is already working to achieveย SDGs and this yearโ theme is a result of this.โ
Sri Lankaโs cooperative sector completes 114th anniversary this year. With the commencement of a rural credit society in Menikhinna village, Kandy (Central Province), Sri Lankaโs cooperatives movement began in 1904 and today 40% of Lankan population (850,000) are members of a cooperative society. There are 14500 such societies today across the country-sporting a huge assets and savings base close to US $3 Bn.
Leader of All Ceylon Makkal Congress